kindergarten and playgroup starting from the age of 0 to six years old. It is then followed by three levels of formal education namely primary education, secondary
education, and tertiary education. The primary education covers Sekolah Dasar SD and Madrasah Ibtida‟iyah MI, as well as Kejar Paket A. Meanwhile, the
junior high schools consists of Sekolah Menengah Pertama SMP and Madrasah Tsanawiyah MTs as well as Kejar Paket B. The secondary education covers
senior high schools and vocational schools. Senior high schools consist of Sekolah Menengah Atas SMA and Madrasah Aliyah Kejuruan MAK. There is also
Kejar Paket C, which is in the same level as SMA and MAK. The last and the highest level is tertiary schools, which consist of several kinds of educational
institutions including universities and colleges. In the national education system in Indonesia stated previously, senior
high school is three secondary grades 10, 11, 12 of school following junior high school and preceding university. Senior high school students are approximately 16
to 18 years old. Considering the ages, the students of senior high school are mentally independent. Generally, they have experienced learning English in junior
high school so that they already have prior knowledge of English.
2. Senior High School English Teachers
Law No. 14 Year 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers, it is stated that teachers are professional educators whose main duty is to educate, teach, advise, guide,
train, and evaluate students in all levels of educations. Furthermore, it is also mentioned that senior high school teachers should be the graduates of four year
teaching diploma. Senior high school teachers, especially those who belong to civil servant teachers, have various responsibilities. Still according to Law No. 14
Tahun 2005, the responsibilities of civil servant teachers consist of main and additional duties. The main duties cover planning, executing and evaluating
processes, giving academic consultancy and training. Meanwhile, the additional duties commonly deal with administrative works.
Further, Law No. 14 Tahun 2005 also mentions that being separated from the administrative works, senior high school teachers have to teach 24 hours
teaching sessions for the minimum and 40 hours teaching sessions for the maximum in a week. In the relation to teaching English, senior high school
teachers have two hours in a week for the compulsory English and three hours in a week for the elective English.
3. Teacher Cognition
It has to be realized that each teacher has their own individual ideas, ways of doing things, and preferences, which makes it obvious that if in this study the
researcher wants to understand completely what the teachers do, the researcher then needs to understand what they know and believe.
Teacher cognition is defined as what language teachers think, know, and believe, which is then reflected through their teaching practice Borg, 2003.
Teacher cognition is considered important to discuss in this study. Knowledge of language has significant influence
toward the effectiveness of the teachers‟ teaching performance. The accumulation of understanding owned by the teachers,
added by their prior language learning and teaching experience, changes their views into beliefs about language teaching. The beliefs are reflected through their
every detail classroom teaching practice.
